East Lynne
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
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East Lynne is an English sensation novel of 1861 by Ellen Wood. East Lynne was a Victorian bestseller. It is remembered chiefly for its elaborate and implausible plot, centering on infidelity and double identities. There have been numerous stage and film adaptations.
The much-"quoted" line: : "Gone! And never called me mother!" (variant: "Dead! Dead! And never called me mother!") does not appear in the book version of East Lynne. Both variants come from later stage adaptations.
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Plot summary
Lady Isabel Carlyle, a beautiful and refined young woman, leaves her hard-working but neglectful lawyer-husband and her infant children to elope with an aristocratic suitor. After he deserts her, and she bears their illegitimate child, Lady Isabel disguises herself and takes the position of governess in the household of her former husband and his new wife.
Adaptations
East Lynne has been adapted for the stage many times; the play was so popular that stock companies put on a performance whenever they needed guaranteed revenue. The play was staged so often that critic Sally Mitchell estimates some version was seen by audiences in either England or North America every week for over forty years.
There have been many silent film versions of the book. One of them, starring Theda Bara, was made in 1916. The story has been refilmed as recently as 1982, in a BBC made-for-television production starring Lisa Eichhorn.
1931 Film
A film version of East Lynne was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Picture in 1931. The movie was adapted from the novel by Tom Barry and Bradley King and directed by Frank Lloyd. The film is a melodrama starring Ann Harding, Clive Brook, Conrad Nagel and Cecilia Loftus. Only one copy of the film is known to exist.
Cast
- Ann Harding as Lady Isabella
- Clive Brook as Captain William Levison
- Conrad Nagel as Robert Carlyle
- Cecilia Loftus as Cornelia Carlyle
- Beryl Mercer as Joyce
- O.P. Heggie as Lord Mount Severn
- Flora Sheffield as Barbara Hare
- David Torrence as Sir Richard Hare
Critical assessment
Some critics argue that the novel champions middle classes over the lower orders; others, however, find this claim "too simplistic" and argue that the novel "highlights the shortfalls inherent to bourgeois masculinity." Sally Mitchell argues that the novel simultaneously upholds and undermines middle-class values.